Working at the hospital has been really fun and I'm really enjoying it. My job is to teach people how to use a few medical programs, but most people have never used a computer before. So instead I am teaching them how to turn a computer on, how to double click, how to open an email account, look at their children's pictures on facebook ;-), and how to type. There is a lot of enthusiasm to learn but there is only one working computer in the hospital that I am free to teach people on, so people can't practice on their own and I can only teach a few people at the time. Also the computer doesn't always work, there's not always internet or power, and people don't have a lot of free time – so it's been a bit challenging.
This means I get free time at the hospital though. I have been making beds, changing sheets, passing out pills, and following doctors on their rounds in the morning. I also have inserted IVs, given injections and helped doctors with some of their other procedures. It's so weird to just have a doctor hand out a needle and hear him say, "here, you try." Things like that just don't happen in America.
On Thursday morning, Genevra (a girl here from Great Britain) and I got to watch a surgery, in the same room that the surgery was happening in. Essentially we just said, hey we'd liked to watch a surgery and they said alright go change into a set of scrubs and come on in. So we changed our clothes and shoes and put on some rubber gloves and watched as two doctors removed a large tumor that had attached itself to a 75 year old man's large intestine. The room was relatively clean, but unhygienic by our standards. There wasn't an anesthesiologist, just a nurse anesthetist, who occasionally would leave the room for ten minutes or so at a time throughout the 3 .5 hour surgery.
I started freaking out a bit when one doctor cut a large blood vessel and blood started pouring out of the man's open stomach and onto the floor. It splashed all over both doctors and made massive puddles on the floor until a nurse put a sheet down to soak the up the blood underneath the two doctors' feet. I definitely thought I was going to see the man die. Everything turned out alright though, the man was still alive on Friday when I came into work ;-)
One doctor and some nurses asked if I could come in on Saturday to teach them on their day off. I readily agreed and showed up at the hospital at 8:30am this morning (we had agreed to meet at 9). Typical Tanzania though, no one showed up even though I waited till 10:10. I feel like I have grown accustomed (somewhat) to people not letting you know about a change of plans though, it was quite okay that they didn't come. I checked my email on the hospital computer and read some of my book. Afterwards, I went to a nice mzungo shop nearby called Chocolate Temptation and bought myself some coffee and finished my book. All in all, a good morning.
On a completely unrelated note, last night (Friday) I cooked "American" food for my family. I made chicken stir fry with some vegetables including broccoli and bean sprouts (neither of which they had seen before- I had to buy them in a mzungo supermarket), white rice, and chopped up fruit (including apples, which they had seen before but rarely- the closest place they grow is South Africa and they cost 500 Tsh each-aka about $.40). I am pretty sure they really liked it. There were almost no leftovers and my mama ate seconds!
I am planning on cooking one more time for them. I brought maple syrup with me from America, so I think I am going to make either French toast or pancakes soon!
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